Stoker construction



Feb. 9, 1937. 0, BARDES 2,070,389

STOKER CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 2s, 1933 JNVENTOR. 'oLNER L. BARDES.

Patented Feb. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STOKER CONSTRUCTION Application August 23 2 Claims.

This invention relates to stoker mechanism.

comprising a coal hopper, a screw conveyor actuated by a suitable speed-reducing device driven by an electric motor through a belt, and a fan enclosed within a housing and mountedv on the motor shaft to supply a forced draft through an air conduit to the furnace.

Heretofore it has been common practice to mount the motor on the housing of the speedl0 reducing device or on the hopper, the mounting being made adjustable for belt tightening or removal purposes, or automatic belt tension devices employed. Such devices have proven unsatisfactory and too expensive to manufacture. Inasmuch as the fan was mounted on the motor shaft, it was necessary to attach the fan housing to the motor or its adjustable support in'order not to displace the fan relative to the fan housing when adjusting the position of the motor to remove the belt or regulate the tension thereof. As the outlet port of the fan housing must connect with the air conduit leading to the retort, the variable position of the housing relative to the conduit, (the position of which is fixed) must be compensated for by a substantially airtight flexible conduit connection therebetween. Such connections are very undesirable-they are often impractical and their cost is excessive.

Furthermore, there has been the common objection to noise arising from operation of the Stoker and the motor was the chief offender in this respect particularly when mounted on the housing of the speed reducing device or mounted in direct connection with the hopper as the walls of the hopper, being usually of large extent and made of sheet metal, served to amplify the motor noise.

In view of the foregoing I have devised a new construction which has many distinct advantages over those now in general use. 'Ihese advantages comprise (a) A motor is mounted on the fan housing.

(b) A rigid juncture between a fan housing and the air conduit leading to the retort of the furnace.

(c) A simple and easily accessible means for adjusting the tension of the belt-one that can be manipulated correctly by a novice.

(d) Adjustment of the belt tension does not change the relation between fan and fan house) Enables replacement of belt with ease and dispatch. n

(f) Reduces objectionable no1se to a practical minimum.

, 19331 serial No. '686,363

(y) Cheap to manufacture. (h) Compact assembly-conserves space. 'My invention will be further readilyA understood from the following description and claims, and from the drawing, in which latter:

Fig. 1 is a left hand side elevation of a stoker mechanism embodying this invention.

Fig. 2 is a right hand side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation; and, Fig. 4 is a sectional detail, taken in the plane ofthe line 4--4 of Fig. 3.

`In the drawing, I0 represents a coal hopper having a base structure II. A conveyor I2. is confined in a conduit I3 secured to the rear wall of the hopper base and the Vane of said conveyor extends from the front wall of the hopper base to a retort (not shown). The hub portion of the conveyor I2 extends forwardly beyond the front wall of the hopper base and is operatively con-v nected to a speed reducing device I4 which is rigidly secured to an extension I Ia on the hopper base. The drive shaft I5 of the speed reducing device I4 has secured thereto the belt pulley I6 by means of which the said shaft I5 may be rotated and, through the device, transmit rotary motion to the conveyor I2. It will be understood that the base II and the device I4 are secured to the floor structure in any suitable manner.

The general construction of this much of the device is not new in the art as many stokers of this type have these elements so arranged.

The stoker structure also comprises means for delivering air under pressure to the retort. In this instance, said means comprises a rotary fan II enclosed within a housing I 8, said housing being provided with a shelf I9 upon which is mounted a motor 2D having a shaft 2I to which the fan I1 is secured. The shaft 2I is also equipped with a belt pulley 22 and a belt 23 serves as a driving connection between said pulley and the pulley I6 mounted on the drive shaft I5.

The housing I 8 has an air inlet opening 24 and a conduit 26 comprising a passageway 25 extending rearwardly and downwardly from the housing I8 and is provided with a flange 2'I by means of which the said conduit may be secured tothe front wall of the base II in any suitable manner. However, as herein shown, the flange 2'I is provided with vertical slotted openings 28, and screws 29, threaded into the base II, extend through said openings and serve to hold the flange 2'I securely and rigidly against the front wall of the base I I and yet permit the vertical adjustment of the conduit 26 and housing I8, whenever there is a requirement to tighten the belt 23. To this end, conduit 26 is provided with an extension 30 which carries a jack screw 3l superimposed upon a lug 32 extending from the base Il. Thus, by turning the screw 3|, the conduit 26 and housing I8 may be adjusted to tighten the belt 23. Preferably the flange 21 is `not in direct metal-to -metal contact with the base ll but is spaced slightly therefrom by a gasket 33 of suitable sound insulating material yet of suiciently firm texture to insure that the conduit 26 and the fan housing I8 will be held securely. Gasket 33 also serves to seal the joint between flange 21 and base Il against leakage of air which would lower the pressure of air reaching the retort. The passageway 25 communicates with an air duct 34 embodied in the base Il and this duct in turn communicates with a passageway 35 embodied in a conduit 36 which extends from the base l I to the retort. Thus air under pressure is delivered to the retort.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A stoking apparatus comprising, in combination, a hopper structure, an air duct and a conveyor for delivering coal; a housing rigidly attached to said air duct and said air duct being secured to said hopper structure, a motor mounted on said housing in xed relation thereto and comprising a rotatable shaft, a fan mounted on said shaft, said housing serving as the sole support for said motor and being formed to encompass said fan and adapted to conduct air currents from said fan into said air duct, and a driving belt operatively connected with said shaft and said conveyor, said housing being adjustable in a direction longitudinally of said belt so as to provide for shifting the position of said motor as required in order to establish suitable tension of said belt without altering the position of said fan relative to the portion of said housing which encompasses said fan.

2. A stoking apparatus comprising, in combination, a hopper structure, an air duct and a conveyor for delivering coal; a motor comprising a shaft, a belt pulley and a fan mounted on said shaft, a shaft mounted independently of said motor operatively connected with said conveyor and provided with a belt pulley disposed with the outer face thereof in substantially the same plane as the corresponding face of said other pulley, a driving belt extending from one of said pulleys to the other, a housing surrounding said fan, and adapted to deliver air to said air duct, a. support for said motor rigidly secured to said housing, supporting structure for said housing and air duct secured to said air duct and to said hopper structure, said supporting structure being adjustable in a plane substantially parallel to a line intersecting the axes of said pulleys whereby the relation of said motor shaft to said other shaft may be varied as required in order to provide suitable tension of said belt without altering the position of said fan relative to the portion of said supporting structure which encloses said fan.

OLIVER L. BARDES. 

